It was a night much like any other night. The stars weren't unusually bright, the temperature unusually hot or cold. Just a normal black summer night daunted only by the sprinkling of stars and the light shining from the lamps along the street. The street lamp in front of the Teertathead's house shone as brightly as it always had but inside was a new darkness, one of which had never been experienced before.. Leslie Teertathead lay silently asleep in her bed, floating through a land of dreams that seemed as if nothing could interrupt it. Her dreamland was much like her life in fact. Everything was going perfect in her life at the moment. School had just ended and the long lazy days of summer lay ahead. The insecure days of being the "little freshman" were over and amore confident year was coming. While she didn't have the largest group of friends, the ones she did have, were loyal and lots of fun, and most importantly she was happy. She didn't have a boyfriend but she found herself feeling completely ok with this. Why should she need one when her life was just fine without one? Yes, Leslie Teertathead's life was good, but despite what she thought, despite what she dreamed, she was wrong. Her life, her dreams were about to be interrupted by the darkest evil imaginable. Leslie was about to get a rude awakening. Literally.

A green vapor seeped through the keyhole of the Teertathead's front door. The knob slowly turned and the door slowly opened with a slight creak. The intruder didn't pause for a second. Whether or not his victims heard him entering wouldn't matter in the end. He knew they were not prepared for an attack of this nature. Slowly he ascended the stairs followed closely by a small skinny figure, nervously eyeing his surroundings and contradicting the first figure's graceful movements as he fumbled about. As the first intruder reached the top of the stairs he scanned the house's decorated walls and rooms. "What a quaint little establishment", he thought. "They really tried so hard to escape it" He smiled as he glanced at a stationary picture. "Pity they failed", he smirked as he turned back down the hall, and without a trace of true pity in his mind he slowly, carefully, pulled out his weapon. 13 ½ inches, yew, tail feather of phoenix, and walked into the room of Mr. and Mrs. Teertathead.

Leslie's eyes flicked open. The familiar creak of the top stair had awakened her. Her senses had always been amazingly tuned. Ever since she could remember she had been a light sleeper, awaking from something as simple as the running of a water faucet or the creak of a step. She lazily rolled over and stuffed her face back into her pillow grumbling at herself for waking over something so small. "Mom's probably just going downstairs to get a drink of water or something", she thought as she tried to force the fog of sleep back over her, but then she heard the creak again, only this time it sounded different, heavier, and with a quicker step, one that definitely didn't sound like her Mother or Father's familiar one. She slowly sat up in bed trying to see out her door without drawing attention to herself. "I'm probably just being paranoid", she thought, " or seeing things". She had once mistake the vacuum cleaner for a burglar, but who could see in the dark, right? But tonight something definitely felt wrong. She didn't risk going into the hall but stayed in her bed, just listening. Then she heard a kind of muffled growl, a low mumble, but almost.hiss-like, coming from her parent's room. Then she heard the cut-off gasps and muffled screams of her parents as something only describable as a small explosion occurred and a bright green light illuminated the hallway. Before Leslie could wonder what the green light was she spotted, in the hall a skinny greasy looking little man, shorter than Leslie, nervously looking from her parent's room to hers. The light faded. Darkness again prevailed, but Leslie could still make out the dim outlined shadow of the man. This was no vacuum cleaner. Her first thought was her parents. She had to get to them or at least get to a phone, but first, she realized, she had to get past greasy man. She frantically scanned the room searching for some kind of weapon, when her eyes fell on a basketball trophy on her dresser, with a stone base. She quickly grabbed the trophy by the little girl on top shooting at an invisible hoop, and thinking fast also grabbed the basketball shaped hacky- sac next to it. She watched for a split second as the figure creeped into her room. She wasn't sure if he could see her or if he knew she could see him, but it didn't matter. She heard a faint whimper coming from her parent's room and more, low, grumbling hissing then she realized greasy man was pointing something at her, she chucked the hacky-sac towards her desk, causing a jump of fright and surprise from the figure, distracting him for just the split second she needed. "Perfect", she thought as she lunged out of bed, and slammed the trophy down with all her might on the head of her attacker. He squeaked in alarm and pain then crumpled to the floor still holding the long stick-like object. She wondered what he thought he was going to do with that, and felt something warm drip onto her foot. She shuddered in disgust, realizing it was blood, and wiped her foot quickly on the carpet. She just hoped this other intruder would be as easy to surprise as she rushed outside into the hallway, trophy in hand, only to see the doors to the room wide open, the room itself glowing with an eerie green light. Her parents sat side by side against the wall holding on to each other look incredibly frightened but somehow brave at the same time, and there grumbling and hissing was the other intruder. She had to admit that he looked much more.intruder-like then greasy man. He was tall and wearing a long dark cape, or was it a robe? She didn't know or care, but soon the "voice" got louder.

She moved slowly closer to the room, mesmerized almost, by the scene. Then her Mom caught her eye. She put her hands to her mouth and looked pleadingly at her daughter as if saying "No, you can't be here, you can't see this, go save yourself." As eyes and hearts connected, a green light flashed, and it seemed to Leslie as if another explosion had occurred. Leslie turned her eyes away from the bright light for only a second, but when she turned back she saw her parents screaming in agony, being lifted off the floor by some invisible force, falling to the floor and slumping over. Still. Lifeless. And all the while a hissing low laugh rang through the hall.

Leslie stood entranced, horrified at what had just taken place before her eyes. Fiercely her stare turned to the murderer, and with a raging scream she attacked him from behind and hacked at him with her trophy. He took the hit to the head and screamed in pain and surprise. He turned to face his attacker. Leslie froze in terror. She had never seen a face so incredibly hideous, so terrifying, in all her life. She watched the sinister lips turn from an enraged frown to an evil smile. She then realized, she should run. She dropped her bloody trophy and turned towards the door lunging for the safety past it, but before she could even take her first step she felt something jerk her, pull her as if time had come to a stop. This same force twisted her around and to her amazement she floated above the carpet and was once again facing this evil man, feeling more frightened than she had ever been in her entire life. She heard footsteps behind her.

"Well Wormtail", said the hissing voice turning toward the door, "I see you also have a nasty bum. I guess I just can't trust you with a simple muggle girl, can I"! His voice was rising. Leslie didn't need to look to know who Wormtail was, her greasy assailant from just minutes ago.

"Please master. My vision is very poor in the dark. please master." His sad pleas were followed by another green flash and a searing scream of pain. Leslie heard his sad whimpers behind her.

"You will have to be more careful next time Wormtail", he hissed, "She is a feisty little muggle though isn't she." He said as an afterthought. "Ahhh but Wormtail she is not all that she seems." With that comment he turned again towards Leslie. His eyes pierced her very soul. He smiled even bigger.

"If only she had known what we have in store for her now", he said with a chuckle. Leslie just wanted to close her eyes, to hide, but she couldn't move, not even to blink. He moved closer to her face.

"I am sorry we had to kill your parents", he stated with mock concern, "but don't worry, you won't remember a thing", he whispered the smile slowly returning to his face. Leslie's heart dropped as she realized that her parent's fate lay ahead of her. He threw his head back and laughed hysterically, almost insanely. He then began to mumble or hiss or a cross between the two and smiled his putrid smile. Once again he began to laugh and laugh pointing a stick much like the one Wormtail had directly at Leslie. The last thing she saw was his terrifying face smiling through a green flash of light, his laugh echoing through her head as she was plunged into darkness. 5,000 miles away a boy called Harry Potter sat bolt upright in bed. He was awakened by a terrible dream, and a fierce pain in his scar.



Please read and Review everyone..I know it's a little slow but believe me it gets better! ~bloomhead